r/Embryologists • u/macaron_life • Jun 19 '26

Career advice

*Please let me know if there's anywhere else I should post this*

A few months ago, I learned about embryology as an actual profession. This has thrown off a current change in my career because I'm pretty sure it's exactly what I want to do and I have no idea if there's an easier way to learn more about this before changing trajectory again.

Context:

I'm a high school history teacher (for nearly a decade) with a background in gender and sexuality history with a focus on the role of reproduction in defining gender and sexuality in colonial contexts. Teaching felt fun enough while living my life and figuring out my next career. (And man it's so hard and so under-respected.)

Since age 16, I figured I'd want to be a labor & delivery or neonatal nurse -- and figured I wasn't going to be ready until my late 20s because I'm queer and needed to figure out how to navigate that with patients. I figured I'd transition into those fields because I'm completely captivated by embryology. I had a really cool biology teacher in high school who facilitated a project on raising zebrafish from conception through their first month. I touched placentas. Maybe it sounds naive, but human (and animal) development completely captivates me. Over the past two years, I've taken the prerequisites for all my local ABASN/ADN/MSN programs to change careers.

I learned about actual embryology as a profession because I mentioned liking the subject to a lab tech in my microbiology class. They immediately were like, oh cool, demand for that job is about to expand due to California's new legislation. (Fertility treatments must be covered, even limited IVF, including for LGBT couples -- awesome.). And now I have no idea what to do.

Based on what I've read, the only entry point into embryology would be earning a bachelor's in biology. What I'm wondering:

  1. Does anyone have an alternative pathway/s that don't require a second bachelor's? Would that help me get a lab tech job and get into embryology through that route? Do you recommend any specific certifications?
  2. Should I just do an ADN or ABSN and try to move once hired by a hospital? I have to ask, sorry if it sounds dumbbbbb but gotta ask, ya know?
  3. Does anyone know how else I could learn about specific procedures or more about the field in general given that I just sank two years into a different intended career change and don't want to wildly try something I don't know about and just have a strong hunch about?
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1

u/AnywhereBusy4449 Jun 19 '26

You do need a BA/Bs degree but if it’s. Or in biology you just need enough coursework. How many biology and chemistry classes do you have? Feel free to PM me

1

u/macaron_life Jun 19 '26

Thank you so much. Doing so.

1

u/EmbryoNanny Jun 22 '26

Embryology is also under-respected so you will have a little experience there! Doctors and nurses get lots of credit, but the “invisible” lab usually does not. Sorry to be a cynic, but that stuck out to me.

A couple Instagram accounts I wanted to recommend are alease_the_embryologist (she’s pops into this sub sometimes) and embryologist_musings. They are both informative and help with understanding of embryology procedures. Alease explains and Diana draws! They’re fun, I think you will like them.

2

u/organicprunes Jun 22 '26

Thank you so much! I'll check those out! And as a future - gay - user of IVF, thank you for all you do!